Plum Beautiful

April 18

“There is a culture around the cherry blossoms in spring in Japan, especially strong now,” says Hideyuki Katagiri, who submitted this picture of a plum grove on Mount Takao to the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. “But to me, the plum blossoms make me feel the coming of the season. This beautiful early morning light on the trees [seems to create] an explosion of spring.”